The Lies We Tell
by that1chick98
Summary: There is a vast divide between truth and deceit. Every day is a constant round of these two elements. Just as clear as this divide, however, is the fact that neither can exist without the other. No one knows this as well as Narcissa Malfoy.


**A/N: Hey, all. It's been forever since I've posted anything on this site. This is just something that hit me tonight and I had to write it, and I figured it was decent enough that others might enjoy it as well. Hope you enjoy!**

 **Disclaimer: Anything you recognize came from J.K. Rowling, not me. However, the plot and my ideas are my own.**

There is a vast divide between truth and deceit. Every day is a constant round of these two elements. Just as clear as this divide, however, is the fact that neither can exist without the other. No one knows this as well as Narcissa Malfoy.

Her entire life has been filled with this delicate dance between yin and yang, truth and lies, dark and light. It all started before she can even remember, in her infancy as she took her first independent breaths.

" _I promise to protect you, my baby girl"._

These were the words her mother, Druella Black, spoke to her in hushed tones as she held her babe to her breast. These words were only spoken to Narcissa once more, when as a girl her elder sister pushed her down a flight of stairs and her bones snapped and cracked like a whip on the backs of the house elves bound to her family.

In her childhood, Narcissa believed her mother's words to ring true as she took her to the best healers the family fortune could provide and punished her sister accordingly. As an adult, however, she wondered what exactly her mother had been promising. The truth lay masked in the shadow of doubt, leaving Narcissa to wonder whether her mother had fulfilled this promise to her or if it was just the first of many lies.

" _We Black sisters are going to stick together"._

Words spoken by light emitting from the end of Bellatrix's wand, emerging from the lips of Andromeda as Narcissa hugged her sister's petite form to her quaking body as tears streamed down her cheeks. Narcissa had just experienced her very first heartbreak as a fourteen year old Slytherin in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. She had been seeing Stefan Greengrass for five months now, five months that she felt she had wasted after discovering him holding hands with Daisy Parkinson. Her sisters, both being older than she and both having experienced heartbreak before, had taken it upon themselves to help the poor young witch through it.

At the time, those words had meant the world to her. She had clung to them, believed them with all her heart. Sure, she and Bella had had their differences as children, but they could move past those, right? Andy had always known exactly what to say to comfort the youngest of the Black sisters.

Now, however, the phrase could only bring a rueful smile to her lips as she thought with regret on how the three of them had branched apart. Andy had chosen to run away with her muggle lover, while Bella had followed in the footsteps of the deranged psychopath that both she and Narcissa's husband admired so. While it was once true that the sisters had been seemingly inseparable, that those eight words rang true when put together in that order, the lie that it had become would be laughable if the end result hadn't been so tragic.

" _I swear to put you above all others, to love and to cherish you for the duration of time we spend in this mortal realm. For better or for worse, in sickness and in health, I swear to stay by your side"._

Marrying Lucius Malfoy had been a happy day for Narcissa. Though the marriage was arranged by her father, she felt that she was marrying a man that she could grow to admire and possibly even love someday. As he spoke those beautiful promises to her, she felt as though she would bask in the light his words brought for a very long time. That night, as any dutiful wife should, she gave herself to him completely. It had been her first time. She felt as though they were sharing part of themselves with each other, like they _belonged_ to each other now.

It wasn't until months later when her bubble had burst and she realized exactly how wrong she had been. Lucius didn't belong to her. He had had many other women, both before and after their marriage. He didn't love or cherish Narcissa. That was a painful truth to swallow.

" _Draco will be safer if we obey the Dark Lord"._

These were words Lucius had spoken to her in the first months of Lord Voldemort's second ascension to power. Narcissa had not only believed this herself, but she also knew that her husband did as well. This was not a lie, because the speaker believed the words with their entire being. In hindsight, however, she also knew this definitely wasn't true. Draco would have been much safer if the Malfoys had stayed as far away from the Dark Lord as possible. They should have left the country at the first hint of the oncoming war that the Malfoy heir would play so large a part in. So if this was neither a truth nor a falsehood, then what was it? Where was the line to be drawn here?

" _I love you"._

This is perhaps the most precarious string of words to ever grace the human tongue. There is so much power in them. This is something that Narcissa knew, but that men like her husband and the Dark Lord he served could never truly grasp. Love is a very powerful force. To some it is kind, making way for happy marriages and strong familial bonds. To others it's a double edged sword, cutting deep wounds into the hearts of those who are hurt by loved ones.

In her lifetime, Narcissa has heard these words spoken to her many times. She has said them herself as well. But there is one thing which this witch cannot quite grasp; just one thing that has eluded her all this time. That thing is a question: How can one know if this is truth or deceit?

Though the meaning of these words is intended to hold a deep resonance within one's soul, to be felt and cherished and protected, people often say these three words together without attaching to the phrase the meaning behind it. " _I love you"_ is thrown about between people all the time. But just because the full and complete meaning doesn't always lie in the words, does that mean that it is strictly a lie when a woman says these words to her friend offhandedly? Or when a temporary couple tentatively speak these syllables to each other, only to have their romance end in tears months later?

Narcissa has been wrestling with this thought for some time now. Through the years, these thoughts play on repeat through her head, going around and around and around and yet still she has no answer.

Finally, Narcissa feels she is forced to admit that she had been wrong for a very, very long time. Where she once viewed the space between truth and lies as a strict line, a vast difference, she now saw something much fuzzier. Maybe they weren't so different after all.


End file.
